project management course for communications &...

Research Project Management Basic principles

9 July 2012

- 2 -Research Project Management – ADU 2007-01-31


1) What is a project?

2) What is project management?

3) What is research?

4) Why manage research projects?

What is a Project?


Some definitions:

– “ A project is an activity that has a defined start and a defined finish, produces some measurable result and requires time, money and resources to reach completion”

– “A group of resources, with at least one possessing a desire for change, striving to achieve a goal within a limited time scale”

– “A temporary endeavour undertaken to create a unique product or service”

– “Any combination of a noun and verb together constitute a project”

– “Any required result that requires more than one action step”


Key characteristics of a project

• It is a unique task/instrument of change

• It has a clearly identifiable beginning and end

• It is designed to attain a specific result/to deliver a specific “product”

• It involves cost, a variety of resources/skills, and time

• It is planned and controlled

• Involves some degree of risk

• All not evident at outset


Tension!

Source: “Successful Project Management – 2nd edition – Mark Brown


What is Project Management?


Definitions:

– “The application of Knowledge, Skills, Tools and Techniques to project activities in order to meet or exceed stakeholder needs and expectations from a project” [ PMI – Project Management Institute ]

– “A structured way to perform tasks”


Methodologies:

– JPACE

– Prince II

– “Agile” project management

– Critical chain

– Stage-gate

– Etc.


What is Research?


– A careful search or inquiry; an endeavour to discover new facts by scientific study of a subject, or a course of critical investigation (a systematic investigation to establish facts)


The (research) process

- Conceptual phase (thinking/planning phase)

- Empirical Phase /implementation (doing phase)

- Analytical Phase

- Dissemination Phase (communication phase)


Research process as part of the grant writing process

Define the project

Match prospective grant

Develop project proposal

Submit Review

Award letter

Agreement

Carry out project

Reporting

Study guidelines, plan


Why Manage Research

Projects?


.

British educational research association

(http://www.bera.ac.uk/commissioning-and-consuming-research-in-education/conducting-

and-managing-commissioned-research/#7)

“Sometimes the crucial difference between a

successful and an unsuccessful piece of research lies

in the quality of project management rather than in

intellectual excellence.”


Consequences of not doing so !

• Inflexible

• Alternatives not considered

• Over-optimistic

• Inappropriate level of detail

• Unwieldy

• Inappropriate structure

• Responsibility not defined

• Key resources unavailable

• Lack of Motivation

• Lack of commitment

• Poor communication

• Manager lacks authority

• Lack of communication by manager

• No action taken

• Progress towards goals not measured

• Individual performance not measured

• Activities not completed

• Changes uncontrolled

• Complexity underestimated

• Unbalanced targets

• Unqualified / untrained people

Poor Planning

Poor Implementation

Lack of Organising

Lack of Control

ProjectDisaster


The Project Manager


Project Manager’s Tasks – illustrative, not detailed

• Plan

– managing the process of milestone planning and activity scheduling

• Organise and coordinate

– making roles and responsibility charts

– coordinating the work

– supervision

• Control

– monitoring roles and responsibilities

– monitoring project progress

– evaluating reports and acting when necessary

– generating milestone reports


Characteristics of the “perfect” Project Manager

• Intelligent

• Proactive

• A helicopter-thinker

• A helicopter-communicator

• Persuasive

• Good interpersonal skills

• Able to maintain aims and clear focus

• Problem solver

• Flexibility

• Understands own responsibilities and strengths

• High energy

• Sense of humour

The JPACE methodology for

Project Management (as a

framework)


What is JPACE

• Justify, Plan, Activate, Control and End.

• A full life-cycle project management process is

the essential connective tissue that holds every

project together.

Justify Plan Activate Control End


The “Justify” phase

Aim

and

objectives

Business

Case

Justify

Concept

Proposal

Benefits

Case


• Output:

– Formal concept proposal for a specific project

Committee orIndividual

Scientific

Case


Planning is more than high level timelines

• Output:

– Approved Project Plan

Project Definition

WorkshopPlanning

Phase

Plan

Obtain Project

Plan approval

Define the project:

– Stakeholder analysis

– Objectives

– Scope

– Deliverables

– Critical success factors

– Constraints

– Approach

– Risks

Make the Project Plan:

– Identify Critical Periods

– Define Work Breakdown Structure

– Define Milestones

– Schedule Activities

– Collaboration

– Resources

– Develop Budget

Project Plan



Setting and evaluating objectives

Specific

Measurable

Agreed

Realistic

Time limited


Milestones

• The use of milestones implies a clear focus on delivery and decision, rather than simply on activities

• Road markers to denote progress

• Define milestones so that they are either complete or incomplete and clearly identify how you are going to measure or recognise their completion

• Treat milestones as learning experiences

• Elements of a milestone:

– The state to be achieved

– The criteria necessary to achieve this desired state

– An estimated target date


Milestones and Deliverables

• All deliverables will be reflected in milestones, for example:

– where the deliverable is a research paper …..

– the associated milestone could be “When the paper has been accepted for publication” (not when it is first submitted for publication!)


Milestones and time

• One of the key benefits of milestones is that they allow you to track progress towards the desired objective

• If milestones are too far apart in time, then they will not assist in tracking progress to the extent necessary

• This implies that you may need to define some milestones in addition to those that are directly linked to deliverables


Gantt Charts

• Henry Gantt, an American engineer, created the Gantt chart in 1917. He developed the chart to help in managing production flow.

• A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time

• When applied to projects, it has a horizontal axis based on time and a vertical axis based on the activities or tasks within a project


Example

• Tasks 2 and 4 are “dependent” on Task 1, i.e. they can only start after Task 1 is complete

• Task 3 is dependent on Task 2

• Task 6 is dependent on Task 5

• Milestone 2 occurs after all of Tasks 1-6 are complete


Why are Gantt Charts useful?

• Gantt charts are useful tools for planning and scheduling projects:– They allow you to assess how long a project should take

– They show the order in which tasks need to be carried out

– They help manage the dependencies between tasks

– They assist in determining the resources needed for a project

• Gantt charts are useful tools when a project is in progress:– They show you what should have been achieved at a

point in time

– They allow you to see how remedial action may bring a project back on course


The “Critical Path” in a Project Plan

The critical path is the series of tasks (or even a single task) that dictates the calculated finish date of the project. That is, when the last task in the critical path is completed, the project is completed.


The purpose of a project budget

• Key element of project plan

• Estimated budget vs real cost…

• Management tool

• Evaluation tool

• Guiding staff working on the project

• Client/sponsor uses it as measure of success

Source: “Successful Project Management – 2nd edition – Mark Brown


• Direct costs

• Indirect costs

The components of a project budget


Important components - proposal

5 W’s & 2 H’s

Who (are you, will help, will use)

what (about, will you do, impact expected, do with results)

where (are you, will do research)

when (will you do and for how long)

why (is it important)

how (will you do and evaluate)

how much (cost)


The Activate stage acquires and develops the project resources

• PM Components:

– Inform the stakeholders

– Hold the kick-off meeting (launch)

– Set expectations

– Train the team

– Equip the project

– Structure meetings

Publicize

Project

Train the

Project team

Activate

Equip the

project

• Inform Stakeholders

• Brief participants

• Set expectations

• Acquire facilities

• Install equipment

• Output:

– Mobilised Project Resources

The individuals, materials,

equipment, and other

resources that participate or

are used in the project.



What is roles and responsibilities charting?

• A technique used to identify activities or decisions and the individuals or groups involved in these activities or decisions, answering the questions:

– What has to be done?

– Who must do it?


What does RACI mean?

Responsible

Accountable

Consult

Inform

Position/person working on the activity;The “Doer”

Position/person with yes/no authority;“The Buck Stops Here”

Position/person involved prior to decision or action; “In the loop”

Position/person that needs to know of the decision or action; “Keep in the Picture”


Managing control needs a multi-faceted approach

Assign project tasks

Obtain resources

Assign resources to activities

Resolve resource conflicts

Monitor issues

Assign tasks Motivate

Control

Revise planTrack

Motivate participants

• Promote individual development

• Create incentives for teamwork

• Monitor performance

• Acknowledge performance

Track project progress

• Assess project state

• Diagnose the situation

• Determine corrective action

• Report status to sponsor

Revise project plan

• Evaluate alternatives

• Assess project risks

• Prepare plan revisions

• Obtain approval for revisions

• Output:

– Project results



Controlling is managing & tracking

• PM Components:

– Managing activities

– Tracking issues

– Managing change

– Managing scope

– Managing expectations

– Monitoring status

– Managing risk

– Managing resources

Assign tasks Motivate

Control

Revise

planTrack



JPACE and the PDR cycle of Project Management

Executework

Monitorprogress

Evaluateprogress

Decidecorrective

action

Takecorrective

action

Preparedetailed plans

Justify

End

PlanActivateControl

Plan

Do

Review


Time management

Researchers often identify the following reasons for their poor time management.

• lack of objectives and deadlines

• disorganisation

• poor communication

• lack of information or clarity about the task

• procrastination

• can't say 'No'

• never finishing tasks

• lack of self-discipline

• unforeseen crisis or difficulty juggling multiple commitments

• excessive socialising

Effective time managers are not workaholics, the task is not to

put in more hours, but rather to use your time more efficiently.


Principles

• have clear objectives.

• devise a project plan.

• classify tasks by urgency and importance.

• use a diary and timetable key activities

• don't get bogged down by others.

• focus on one thing at a time

• review an activity before you leave it

• reward yourself


The End stage brings the project to an orderly conclusion….

• PM Components:

– Conduct a post mortem to ensure learnings from what worked and what didn’t

– Review resource performance

– Suggest follow-up in successor projects

Prepare completion

report

Release the

resources

End

Hand over

results

• Summarize results

• Lessons learned

• Project Metrics

• Archive deliverables

• Hand over

• Gain acceptance for

project results

• Sign Off


• Outputs:

– Project Results, i.epapers published (major product)

– Project Completion Report (key product)

– Project Resource Release


JPACE – source of information

The JPACE methodology is described in detail (with many tools) on the website:

http://www.gantthead.com/Gantthead/default/



Dr Karin Dyason

[email protected]

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